1. Spending Free Time
   Input: Free time/boredom
   Procedure: Kill time on internet/Observe world around me through computer
   Output: Information I’ve gathered from my time on the web (most often, nothing relevant)
   Feedback: Is the information obtained helpful to me
   Broken: I blocked facebook for a day.  With the time I normally spend on facebook, I was observed and sketched non-virtual people around me.
2. Artistic Expression
   Input: Desire to make some prints
   Procedure: Gather inks, generate content, screen print protocol
   Output: Prints/Editions
   Feedback: Am I pleased with the product based on the amount of work I put in
   Broken: I decided to try a method of printing that was entirely new to me, CMYK screen printing. Wasn’t entirely pleased with product, but am looking forward to making more CMYK prints in the future.
3. Grooming
   Input: Hair state in the morning
   Procedure: If hair is manageable, leave it down, else put it up
   Output: How I wear my hair for that day
   Feedback: Does the style I chose positively affect my day
   Broken: Instead of letting my hair decide how it would be worn, I decided the night before, and followed through with my plans 
4. Pupil Life
   Input: Prompt for class assignment
   Procedure: Generate ideas -> generate work -> submit for critique
   Output: Work to be critiqued
   Feedback: Literal feedback at critique & what I learned about my artistic process
   Broken: I am weary of creating work for critique. For the first time in a while, I disregarded my assignments and made some work for myself, a couple stuffed animals.
5. Stress Relief
   Input: Stress
   Procedure: ‘stress-relievers’, sleep, attempting to ignore stress
   Output: More stress
   Feedback: Are my stressful responsibilities resolved? Due to my poor stress management, no.
   Broken: I dropped a class which will allow me to spend more time on other responsibilities.
6. Family
   Input: Desire to remain close to family
   Procedure: Text/call family alerting them I want to skype. We begin to skype but when I hear that friends arrive outside of the room, make an excuse to end call and go hang out.
   Output: Guilt, less close with family
   Feedback: Am I happy with my relationships with my family.
   Broken: This weekend, I set aside an hour and a half to skye with my parents. I made sure that I did not make some excuse to leave the conversation early.
7. Capital
   Input: Need for funds
   Procedure: Work at the Miller Gallery
   Output: Money
   Feedback: Enough funding? Do I feel OK about the way that I’ve made money?
   Broken: I feel like a lazy individual at the Miller Gallery. So, I took an extra shift at the Children’s Museum this weekend. Next, I want to start selling prints/sewing works
8. Learning
   Input: Homework assignment
   Procedure: Wait until the last minute, don’t attend lecture, scramble to finish homework
   Output: Mediocre homework assignment turned in
   Feedback: Grade
   Broken: Took some more initiative in a group project, started early
9. Collecting
   Input: Everything
   Procedure: Hoard it
   Output: Messy room, too much stuff to handle
   Feedback: Can I even walk through my room anymore?
   Broken: Cleaned room, put a lot of things in a bag to bring to Makeshop
10. Sharing Space
    Input: Roommate’s mood
    Procedure: If stressed, avoid
    Output: Resentment
    Feedback: # of times we have a good time together vs. # of times we have a bad time
    Broken: Instead of avoiding her when she was stressed about a homework assignment, I helped her complete it.

The following are a few examples of systems I’ve put in place into my life, each aiming to achieve normalcy, order, and maybe even some ounce of control,  and here’s how I did some of them wrong.

1. System: Dressing
Input: Need to be clothed
Output: Outfit
Feedback: Warmth

Doing it wrong: Perfect for a snowy cold day?

2. System: Eating
Input: Hunger
Output: Fullness
Feedback: Enjoyment/nutritional value

Doing it wrong: Nutritious dinner.

3. System: Exercise
Input: Desire to be fit
Output: fitness
Feedback: appearance, health
Doing it wrong: Exercise as a couch potato.

4. System: Studying
Input: Desire for good grades
Output: Grades
Feedback: GPA, scores, perceived success

Doing it wrong: These books won’t read themselves, nor will I.

5. System: Makeup
Input: Desire to be beautiful
Output: My second “face”
Feedback: Compliments, perceived beauty

Doing it wrong: #nofilter #no makeup

6. System: Work
Input: Desire for money
Output: Money
Feedback: Time, money
Doing it wrong: Don’t show up for work, win the “worst employee of the month” award

7. System: Art practice
Input: Passion for art
Output: artworks
Feedback: Self-satisfaction, quality, others’ remarks

Doing it wrong: One of my more conceptual pieces.

8. System: Human contact
Input: Desire for connectedness
Output: relationships
Feedback: Satisfaction
Doing it wrong: Don’t text back when I receive texts.

9. System: Dressing
Input: Desire to be beautiful
Output: Outfit
Feedback: Compliments, perceived beauty

Doing it wrong: I’ll turn plenty of heads in this shapeless men’s hoodie.

10. For the final system, I chose to analyze my sleep patterns. Like the majority of college students I consider myself quite a night owl; I can stay up until 5 AM with relative ease but if you ask me to wake up at 5 AM I’ll hit the snooze button for a few more hours. I chose to flip this system but taking an extreme view of a morning person, and tried out a new sleep schedule. I went to sleep at 7:30 PM with the help of my exhaustion and some natural sleep supplements, and set my alarm to wake me at 3:30 AM.

I thought that perhaps I would be able to get work done in the morning with a full 8 hours of sleep behind me (which I don’t usually achieve) but when I woke up I found that the number of hours made no difference to my feelings of rested-ness–I was just as tired as any other morning, but this morning I had 7 hours to kill before my first class. I ended up just sitting around for mot of the morning, and I even watched a movie over breakfast and my morning coffee but I was entirely unproductive. As the day progressed and I made it to the afternoon I had already had a full day and was entirely exhausted but unfortunately could not take a break from my daily responsibilities to nap. 22 hours after I had awoken in the morning I finally went back to sleep, and was able to resume my regular waking hour the next day.

1. Fashion
In: Clothing choices
Out: Social approval
Factors: Trends; Creativity; Price range
Feedback: Compliments; Staring
Leverage: Trends – Wear something that is a fashion trend now that is really impractical; Wear all the current trends at once

2. Communication
In: Gesture
Out: Recognition
Factors: Loneliness; Social norms; Distractions; Environment
Feedback: Response; Comfort/ Satisfaction
Leverage: Response – Respond inappropriately (yell or cry); Do not respond

3. Transportation
In: Body
Out: Body
Factors: Time; Access; Safety
Feedback: Word of mouth; Customer satisfaction
Leverage: Time – take an indirect route; Do not change position (not moving Point A to B)
*Note/Question: How does this affect/ critique the system?

4. Commerce
In: $ $ $
Out: Good/service
Factors: Want; Need; Access
Feedback: Customer satisfaction
Leverage: Access – Take too much for $ value; Affect others’ access

5. Eating
In: Food
Out: Energy (?)
Factors: Hunger; Availability
Feedback: Full/Satiated
Leverage: Hunger – Eat past ‘full’ or when not hungry; Food – Eat no food or eat ‘non-food’ material

6. Pet
In: Food; Care/Shelter
Out: Love
Factors: $$; Distractions; Time
Feedback: Pet shows affection/respect to owner; Pet wants to play; Pet allows petting/cuddling
Leverage: Time – Spend all day w/ pet instead of only feeding it.  Does pet get annoyed?

7. Education
In: Person; Attention
Out: Demonstrated Learning (Papers, Exams, Work, etc.); Knowledge
Factors: Time; $$; Availability; Resources
Feedback: Grades; Personal satisfaction
Leverage: Demonstrated – produce nothing

8. Personal Relationships
In: Person/Self
Out: Companionship
Factors: Time; Vulnerability; $
Feedback: Closeness
Leverage: Vulnerability – Don’t get vulnerable; Time – Do not be available

9. Artistic Production
In: Effort
Out: Product
Factors: Time; Materials; State of mind; Cultural demands
Feedback: Public reaction
Leverage: Materials – Create something out of nothing

10. Cleaning
In: Effort
Out: No mess; Clean sanitary surfaces
Factors: Time; Materials
Feedback: Space; Relief
Leverage: Effort – Spend time but make few changes to relieving mess.

I chose to flip the system of how I got dressed and how I decided to what to wear for the day. One morning, I woke up when my alarm sounded, blindfolded myself, and dug through my closet and dresser drawers. This is the product, and this is what I wore for the remainder of the day.

Communication

Waking Up

Going to Sleep

Calling Mom

Getting Dressed

Eating

Learning a new song on the ukulele

Deciding to get a haircut

Homework

Panic Attack

Here is a list of systems in my life. Underneath each system I have also added ways in which I can mess up the system by changing something about the feedback:

1. Cooking:
   Input: Hunger
   Output: Satisfaction
   Feedback: Talent/skill
   Other Factors: Diet, time, peopleCook dishes have never cooked before for a day
   Only cook what I can make within 5 minutes.
   Assemble all pics of food I have eaten over the past few years (I always take pics of new things I eat/ cook)
2. Communication:
   Input: Necessity
   Output: Knowledge gained or given
   Feedback: Urgency
   Other Factors: intelligence, language, personal vs. professionalRespond to all email, text, etc, that I receive within a day
   Speak with a thick Indian accent for a day
3. Religion
   Input: Belief
   Output: Tradition
   Feedback: Passion
   Other Factors: Family, culture, time, dedicationTry reading a religious text that is not from my religion
   Attend another religions’ meeting
4. Language
   Input: Idea
   Output: Communicate
   Feedback: Audience
   Other Factors: Culture, Family, Friends, Location, SpeciesSpeak Tamil to everyone for one day
5.  Transportation
   Input: Leave
   Output: Arrive
   Feedback: Distance
   Other Factors: Weather, Time, CompanyVisit a PAT public meeting
   Walk to all destinations regardless of distance
   Wait for 1 specific bus the whole day
6. Hygiene
   Input: routine
   Output: Clean
   Feedback: Tolerance (of feeling dirty)
   Other Factors: Family, Friends, Responsibilities, SocietyDedicate 2 hours for brushing my teethe
   Bathe in ice cold water for a week
7. Study
   Input: Confused
   Output: Understand
   Feedback: Skill
   Other Factors: Interest, tiredness, timeAttend academic development
   Attend study sessions for 1 day (even if I do not take the class)
8. Relationships
   Input: Lonely
   Output: Support System
   Feedback: Maintenance (keeping in touch)
   Other Factors: Who?, Family, Professional vs. Personal, memories, grudgesRespond to all email, texts, social media, that I receive in a day (even if it is spam)
   Write letters to everyone that I have not kept in touch with
9. Reading
   Input: Curiosity
   Output: Knowledge
   Feedback: Time/speed
   Other Factors: Interest, personal vs assigned, genre, lengthOnly read Magazines for one day
   Read texts that are not assigned and are not interesting for me
10. Sleeping
    Input: exhausted
    Output: refreshed
    Feedback: Time
    Other Factors: work, tiredness, Parents, schedule, rulesDo not sleep for a night
    Sleep with hourly interruptions
    Spend a day where you sleep for an hour, work an hour, sleep, work, sleep, etc
11. System That I changed for 1 day:
    Self – improvement
    Input: Need to Change
    Output: Become a better person
    Feedback(negative) : criticism
    Feedback(Positive) : Praise
    Other Factors: work, professionalism, self-esteem, confidence, societyIn this system, I found it interesting that the system has clear negative and positive feedbacks. However, People most often seek to improve themselves through criticism even though positive reinforcement (praise) is proven to work better. I believe that this system is closely tied in with societal norms or pressures; if someone seeks praise then they are labelled as narcissistic, over-confident, and more. It is also hard to receive praise since we are not trained on how to graciously accept it. To break this system, I spent a day trying to let everyone on my contacts list know what great things they’ve done for me or just how special they were. After getting past the initial discomfort of writing such wonderful things and sending them out to be judged, it was interesting to see the different reactions.
    Here is a link to the post which Documents this experience: teach.alimomeni.net/2014spring1/?p=4024

In: desire to succeed
Process: schoolwork
Out: grades
Change: Write in Cursive instead of print.

In: Motivation to improve
Process: Practicing Guitar
Out: Improvement in skill and self-satisfaction
Change: Play with Teeth instead of hands

In: Need to carry items to class
Process: Storing all of books and folders in backpack
Out: Ability to carry many items around
Change: Carry things with little purse

In: Tiredness, wanting to rest
Process: Sleeping
Out: Replenished energy
Change: Sleeping with stuffed animals instead of blankets.

In: Wanting to absorb more knowledge
Process: Browsing the web
Out: learned knowledge
Change: Learning from a book instead of from a laptop.

In: Hunger/Food
Process: Eating/Digestion
Out: fulfillment
Change: Eating only vegetables.

In: Desire to reach a location
Process: Transportation:
Out: Reaching the destination
Change: Walk everywhere instead of going by Vehicle

In: Social Norms
Process: Behaving in acceptable ways
Out: Ability to fit in
Change: Eating on the table from the chair vs. eating on the chair from the table

In: Wanting to connect with people online
Process: chatting through online
Out: self-satisfaction and connection with old friends.
Change: typing in chinese instead of english

ONE DAY:
In: Desire to communicate with others.
Process: Greeting/talking to others.
Out: Recognition, Reciprocation
Change: Communicate using only animal sounds

A short clip from my day…..

In this assignment, we were asked to change one system in our lives. I chose to focus on something that I had been thinking about this break; the system of communication in our society. More specifically, I was thinking more along the lines of how we are more willing to offer criticism rather than praise because of societal pressures. Especially when someone is looking to improve themselves, it is more often that they do it through criticism (negative feedback) rather than praise (positive feedback).

Therefore, for this assignment, I decided to send positive feedback to everyone on my contact list. Granted, this list is very small since I am apparently an unsociable person who isn’t in the habit of asking for numbers. However, I found it interesting to reconnect with people I never talk to anymore (like my freshman room mate) and to offer them things I noticed were their strong points or praise for things they have done for me in the past.

This is a master compilation of the texts I sent and received texts back from :

More Documentation: I printed out the texts I received back and mounted them so that each has their own iphone – like frame.

This was an interesting project for me since I sent out texts early that morning and was receiving and sending out even more throughout the day. It was especially nice to hear from people who I have not kept in contact with and to hear the nice ompliments I got back in return. One of the more surprising things turned out to be that people who I am friends with but not very close to replied instantly whereas people who I am extremely close to still haven’t replied. I suppose it has to do wih ‘no words needed’?